Popcorn Clouds Over India and Sri Lanka

Popcorn clouds hang over parts of India (above) and Sri Lanka (right). The two countries are separated by the Palk Strait,which connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with the Palk Bay and thence with the Gulf of Mannar in the southwest.

Visible in the lower left corner of the image (best observed upon opening the full version) are the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. It formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India’s Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India.